Hazardous Materials Incident Closed 234 Northgate One: Police

SAN RAFAEL, CA — Police closed the area of 234 Northgate One for several hours Tuesday after receiving reports that a person dumped suspicious liquid from a jug into a parking lot planter box.

Witnesses reported the person to police at around 8:35 a.m., Lt. Dan Fink of the San Rafael Police Department told Patch. They reported a chemical smell and said they saw smoke, Fink said.

First responders closed the shopping center from the Big 5 Sporting Goods store to the Starbucks and asked the employees of those locations to shelter in place, Fink said.

Most of the area reopened as of around 12:30 p.m., after first responders cleared the scene and mitigated public risk outside of the cordoned off area, officials said. A shelter-in-place advisement that had been implemented Tuesday morning was lifted as well.

However, some businesses will remain closed pending further clean-up by a private contractor, officials said.

The incident was isolated at Northgate One and did not include Northgate Mall, Marin County officials said on Twitter.